What Is a Favicon in Blogger?

In Blogger, Google's blogging platform, a favicon is the small square icon a browser shows beside the blog's name in tabs, bookmarks, history lists and similar places. The blog owner can upload an image to act as this icon. If no image is uploaded, a generic Blogger icon appears instead, so the blog looks the same as every other unbranded Blogger site.

Plain-English Definition

The word favicon is short for "favorites icon." The name comes from early browsers, which showed the icon next to saved favorites, now usually called bookmarks. In practice, the favicon is a site's identity at the smallest size it will ever be displayed. For a Blogger blog, it is often the first branded element a reader notices when several tabs are open.

Why the Favicon Matters in Vector Logo Work

A logo is usually created as vector artwork. Vector artwork defines shapes with paths, which are mathematically described points and curves. Because of this, the artwork can be scaled to any size without losing sharpness. A favicon, by contrast, is normally displayed as raster content. Raster content is a fixed grid of pixels, and at favicon sizes that grid is very small.

It helps to keep the artwork separate from the file that holds it. An ICO file is a container that can hold several raster images at different sizes. A PNG file holds a single raster image. An SVG file is a vector format, but it can also contain embedded raster images. The file extension alone therefore does not tell you whether the content inside is true vector geometry.

This matters for the design itself. A full logo with a wordmark, thin strokes or fine detail rarely stays legible when it is reduced to a few pixels. Thin lines break up or blur, small counters fill in, and lettering turns into noise. Designers therefore usually build the favicon from a simplified part of the identity, such as the symbol, a monogram or a single letter. They also adjust that geometry for the small size instead of simply shrinking the full logo.

• Start from the vector master file, not from a screenshot or a previously exported image.
• Place the simplified mark on a square artboard, because favicons are displayed in a square space.
• Remove or thicken details that will not survive reduction, and simplify complex paths.
• Preview the artwork at its actual display size, not only zoomed in.
• Export the raster file from the vector source, so the pixels come from clean geometry.
• Keep the vector master for future edits, re-exports and other icon sizes.

Dark Mode Variants

Browsers and operating systems can use light or dark themes, so the same favicon may appear on very different tab backgrounds. Dark artwork on a transparent background can disappear on a dark tab. Light artwork can disappear on a light tab. A design can handle both themes on its own in several ways. It can sit on a solid background tile, use a contrasting outline around the mark, or use colors that stay distinct against both light and dark surroundings.

An icon that actually switches with the theme depends on how the favicon is delivered. Some browsers support SVG favicons that change color based on the user's color-scheme preference. However, Blogger's built-in favicon option works by uploading an image, and the available information does not confirm whether Blogger accepts SVG files or a separate light and dark pair. The dependable starting point is a single design that stays legible on both backgrounds. Before relying on any theme-switching method, test it against Blogger's current documentation and in the browsers your readers use.

Details to Confirm

The source material for this entry did not include Blogger-specific details. It does not cover where the favicon setting sits in the current dashboard, which file types are accepted, the maximum file size, or the recommended pixel dimensions. Check these points in Blogger's current help pages before you prepare final files. After uploading, view the blog in a browser tab to confirm the result. Browsers often cache favicons, so an updated icon may not appear right away.